Allied PoW interrogation reports at the PRO

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'clock High!:

Terrence Daniels
Where do you find loss records?
Sun Jul 16 00:52:05 2000


Those of you who have posted info about a/c loss records, I'm curious. I've found loss listings for Norway online, but that was special-interest. Is it possible to
purchase computerized records of such things? For example, a CD with a list of loss records for a certain time and place? I know that such things aren't published by
official government sources, but have private interests done the research and made specific kinds of records available for a price? Or rather, is it that your records have
been gathered personally at places like the Bundesarchiv, etc.?

Sorry if I am asking a question about confidential matters.

[Richard T Eger]

From TOH!:

Nick Beale
Loss Records
Sun Jul 16 23:13:44 2000


The short answer: any damn' place you can!
The long answer: the Lw. Quarternmaster General's aircraft loss records are in the Bundesarchiv at Freiburg, microfilm copies (which can be purchased at great
expense) are in the Imperial War Museum, London (Dept. of Documents). 1944 and bits of 1945 are famously missing and much sought after. Personne loss records
are in the Deutsche Dienststelle in Berlin ... and you can't see 'em, thanks to a privacy law of 1991, unless you are a veteran or family member.
Other loss data can be pieced together from Allied PoW interrogation reports (Public Record Office, London or USAFHRA, Alabama), reports on crashed and captured
enemy aircraft (ditto), aircrew logbooks, veterans' memories, the Red Cross, gravestones etc., etc. None of these sources is neatly arranged to cover a given time or
place, you just have to put the work in yourself in the end.

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

Angelos Mansolas
Luftwaffe fighter losses France 1944
Sun Nov 17 14:11:46 2002
195.97.118.124

Hi all,

I am searching for a list of Luftwaffe fighter losses in France during the summer of 1944 for the following dates:

22 April, 21 June, 24 June, 8 July, 8 August.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Nick Beale
Losses in France
Sun Nov 17 17:44:19 2002
212.159.53.213

The Luftwaffe's aircraft loss records for 1944 have been missing since the war. The personnel casualty records have effectively closed to all but relatives of the airmen concerned by a German privacy law introduced in the early 1990s.

For dates from 6 June onward you will find much (but not all) of the information you seek in Jean-Bernard Frappé's "La Luftwaffe face au debarquement allié" (Editions Heimdal, France, 1999) however this will not necessarily cover aircraft losses where the pilot was not injured nor losses due to bombing/strafing etc.

In the Bundesarchiv at Freiburg (or in the Public Record Office, London in tranlsation) there are some records of Luftflotte 3 for the invasion period which include some figures for daily successes and losses.

These can be supplemented by reference to prisoner of war interrogation reports (held in the PRO and in America) by reports of monitored R/T traffic in the PRO and by reading through several thousand "Ultra" decrypts for the relevant period.

So there's no simple or final answer but the Frappé book is probably the best printed source you'll find.